Saturday, June 25, 2011

How much debt do I have? (Jun 11)


In Mar 11, I had recalculated my total debt which is totally from the mortgage loan of my flat to be $25K. The calculation is based on using the outstanding housing loan amount minus away my total family CPF OA amount.

Today I have recalculated my total debt again, and the total debt has reduced by $3k to $22k. In my post on "What I hope to achieve in 20 years?", I mentioned that I wanted to reduce my total debt to $0 within the next five years, Based on my conservative estimation, I think it is achievable by the end of next years.

Saturday, June 18, 2011

My Investment portfolio has reached S$120k

For those who have been following my other blog "My Investment portfolio in Singapore" would know that I have been slowly building up my investment portfolio. For every one or two month since Sep 09, I have been buying shares regularly and till today I have build a portfolio of $120k. The dividend yield of my portfolio is about 6.67% per year, which is about $8000 per year or $667 per month.

I always like to buy shares of companies that have strong fundamentals and give good dividends. And also I have come out with my own version of "My Investment Rules" which help to prevent myself from making any investment mistakes. To me, buying shares is like buying a system that creates a source of passive income to me. Unlike trader or speculator, I am not so worry about making losses in stocks as long as the company is still giving good dividends. In fact, I like to see market to crash as it will provide me with the opportunity to buy good stocks at cheaper price.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Shorter distance means shorter time to travel?

Recently I had taken a cab home from work. In the cab, the driver asked me which way to go. I was given two routes; first is to travel through the small routes and second is to use the expressway.

The first route is a more direct that has a much shorter distance than second route which needs to go a big round before reaching my home. As I had used the second route before, I decided to go for the first route to see it is faster or not.

Though the distance is shortest, the cab was slowing at a slow speed due to the many cars around and the speed limits imposed on the small roads. Furthermore the cab had met with many red traffic lights and had to stop occasionally. In the end I had taken a longer time to reach home as compared to using the second route. The cab fares are almost the same for both the routes.

In conclusion, shorter distance does not necessary mean shorter time to travel. A direct path might take you more time to travel as compared to indirect path.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Family Outing at Singapore Flyer (4 Jun 11)



I had brought my family to Singapore Flyer on 4 Jun 11. Everyone was excited as this was our first time there. In order to avoid any crowd, we took a cab in the morning and reached there at around 10am. One good time about being early is that we can our own cabin without sharing with any strangers. Here are some photos that I had taken on that day.


This picture was taken at the second floor. Too bad, it was a raining day, so most of my pictures were not very clear.


A top view of a cabin below us.


Picture of "Gardens by the Bay" taken in our cabin.


ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands.


Picture of floating platform.


A heart shaped drawn at a contruction side just below the Singapore Flyer. My toddler was the first who discovered it. We were wondering whether the constructor worker drew it on purpose?


A picture taken in Rainforest Discovery.


A venting machine to buy fish food for the fishes. We spent about $5 on it.


These are the three tortoises that we had fed. Remember to feed them if you see them there.


These fishes were swimming peacefully initially. But when we threw in the fish food, they will immediately charged towards it.


A human-size model of Syndey Opera House.


A human-size model of Eiffel Tower.

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